first off I just want to say how horrible I think what has happened to New Orleans, the gulf, and Mississippi. I can't even imagine what it's like to lose everything, and then to lose your city on top of it. and especially for the poorer people who have no option to rebuild even once the city is cleared out.

but

I'm also amazed at how short the amount of time it took for people to revert to animalistic nature and go insanely wild. this just happened a few days ago! yet people are already looting and shooting each other. I can understand stealing food from stores and blankets and stuff. not having been in such a situation, I can only speculate at the desperation these people must feel. but to steal tvs, and microwaves? and guns? for what? they had to stop rescuing people from the superdome because the helicoptors and boats were being shot at. how is it going to help your situation when you shoot at the hand that reaches out to you? sure, those are horrible situations to have to be stuck in. but the city is freaking flooded!!! people are doing the best they can, but it's going to take time. and because of the idiocy of some people, it's affecting all the others who are unfortunate enough to be stuck with them. I just don't understand. and like I said, maybe I'm just ignorant because I'm not in the situation myself. but it seems to me, that trying to help each other instead of shooting one another, will only help the situation. I'm sorry, it just makes me so angry to see all that violence and stealing amongst all the death and destruction. the fact that police are now taken away from rescuing people so that they can deal with violence. it's just wrong.

I completely agree. I wish everyone could just be patient for the help. I'm also not in the current situation (and I hope never to be in one). I'd imagine it is hard to hold onto reason and rationality when you've lost all your belongings, perhaps some friends and family, and even your houses & the whole city. People do desperate things when they are really desperate.

Um, in my room, one seam is a little off and I stare at it constantly. It's, like, destroying me.

emmie wrote:first off I just want to say how horrible I think what has happened to New Orleans, the gulf, and Mississippi. I can't even imagine what it's like to lose everything, and then to lose your city on top of it. and especially for the poorer people who have no option to rebuild even once the city is cleared out.

but

I'm also amazed at how short the amount of time it took for people to revert to animalistic nature and go insanely wild. this just happened a few days ago! yet people are already looting and shooting each other. I can understand stealing food from stores and blankets and stuff. not having been in such a situation, I can only speculate at the desperation these people must feel. but to steal tvs, and microwaves? and guns? for what? they had to stop rescuing people from the superdome because the helicoptors and boats were being shot at. how is it going to help your situation when you shoot at the hand that reaches out to you? sure, those are horrible situations to have to be stuck in. but the city is freaking flooded!!! people are doing the best they can, but it's going to take time. and because of the idiocy of some people, it's affecting all the others who are unfortunate enough to be stuck with them. I just don't understand. and like I said, maybe I'm just ignorant because I'm not in the situation myself. but it seems to me, that trying to help each other instead of shooting one another, will only help the situation. I'm sorry, it just makes me so angry to see all that violence and stealing amongst all the death and destruction. the fact that police are now taken away from rescuing people so that they can deal with violence. it's just wrong.

What's even more wrong is that the folks at the Convention Center only got food and water for the first 4 days from...

the looters.

None, none of the authorities did squat despite the fact there plight was well publicised by numerous organizations.

The federal government failed big time its obligations to help. The wealthier hospital was evacuated while Charity Hospital had patients dying and doctors so dehydrated that they had to give each other intravenous solutions.

Its not just me a liberal saying Bush screwed this up royally and did practically nothing for 3 days while people died. Tucker Carlson and David Brooks, both reliable conservative commentators, have been livid in their criticism of Bush and the federal response to this tragedy.

What we got to see on TV was poor, mostly African-Americans left to cope with no water, no food and no medicine for nearly 4 days.

Its a disgrace and the National earthquake from this is going to be felt for months possibly years to come.

Bush and co are accused of cutting $71 million dollars in Federal Assitance last year to improving the levy system. Numerous officals Democrats and Republicans have warned about the possibility for years of what happened and nothing was done.

Not a proud day, not a proud week to be an American.

Maybe some good will come of this. My brother served with the General now in charge of Troops in New Orleans and he has nothing but praise for him. New Orleans maybe rebuilt. The levies might finally become stronger. Maybe more wetlands will flourish in Louisana. Maybe New Orleans will develop a better evacuation plan that takes into account those who don't have access to private transportation.

I'm not a Bush fan in the least. but I don't think the finger can be pointed at just him. in fact, it angers me to see all these political figures up on tv pointing their fingers at everyone. it seems to me, that it isn't just one person's fault. it's the avalanche of quite a few people screwing up: Bush, US government, FEMA, LA officials, etc. and a very obvious problem in communication.

that said, who cares? who really cares whose fault it is? shut your mouth arguing and get to work making up for it. yeah, America screwed up big time. admit it and move on. DO something about it!

what also angers me is the media. I studied broadcasting in my undergrad, which is exactly why I'm now studying film as my MFA. the more I see the news and learn about them, the more they anger me as well. all they freaking care about is getting the story. we were taught in school that as news reporters, you aren't supposed to get involved, you are simply there to report what happens. not affect it. the same goes for documentaries. but you know what? screw that too. because apparently for several days, and immediately after the storm, the press was able to get to those people at the convention center and super dome. how about instead of interviewing people and showing the desperation and horrible conditions they are suffering, how about using that d*mn press van to carry supplies, water, anything to help. sure they couldn't help everyone, but at least do what you can, right? no wonder those people were yelling at the cameras and being rude to the reporters. I would too.

emmie wrote:I'm not a Bush fan in the least. but I don't think the finger can be pointed at just him. in fact, it angers me to see all these political figures up on tv pointing their fingers at everyone. it seems to me, that it isn't just one person's fault.

I agree. But really, we can't forget that this was a NATURAL DISASTER. Mother can do whatever she wants, whenever she wants. Tornados are even less predictable.

Um, in my room, one seam is a little off and I stare at it constantly. It's, like, destroying me.

emmie wrote:I'm not a Bush fan in the least. but I don't think the finger can be pointed at just him. in fact, it angers me to see all these political figures up on tv pointing their fingers at everyone. it seems to me, that it isn't just one person's fault.

I agree. But really, we can't forget that this was a NATURAL DISASTER. Mother can do whatever she wants, whenever she wants. Tornados are even less predictable.

Hurricane Maria is already out there. I also read an article I believe in Nature that said as a result of Global warming we can expect more Hurricanes each year.

emmie wrote:I'm not a Bush fan in the least. but I don't think the finger can be pointed at just him. in fact, it angers me to see all these political figures up on tv pointing their fingers at everyone. it seems to me, that it isn't just one person's fault. it's the avalanche of quite a few people screwing up: Bush, US government, FEMA, LA officials, etc. and a very obvious problem in communication.

that said, who cares? who really cares whose fault it is? shut your mouth arguing and get to work making up for it. yeah, America screwed up big time. admit it and move on. DO something about it!

And yet... if no one is held accountable what have we learned? What is to prevent Federal Officals, LA officals from saying, "Ya know there is this war going on and rich people need more tax cuts and we just don't have the money to build levies to withstand a force 5 hurricane. Sorry about that hope you understand." The buck stops....nowhere, I guess.

what also angers me is the media. I studied broadcasting in my undergrad, which is exactly why I'm now studying film as my MFA. the more I see the news and learn about them, the more they anger me as well. all they freaking care about is getting the story. we were taught in school that as news reporters, you aren't supposed to get involved, you are simply there to report what happens. not affect it. the same goes for documentaries. but you know what? screw that too. because apparently for several days, and immediately after the storm, the press was able to get to those people at the convention center and super dome. how about instead of interviewing people and showing the desperation and horrible conditions they are suffering, how about using that d*mn press van to carry supplies, water, anything to help. sure they couldn't help everyone, but at least do what you can, right? no wonder those people were yelling at the cameras and being rude to the reporters. I would too.

Ahh the media, we could have a thread just for that one. Think what you will about Cindy Sheehan but a reporter told her at Camp Casey, "Thanks for doing this, August is such a slow news month."

Earth to clueless one, she isn't doing this to improve your ratings. She is doing this for her dead son.

Count on the media to be simply the media, pushing stories that will see advertising, no matter the cost. Proclaiming journalistic principles when it suits their interests, ignoring it when it does not.

lance wrote:Hurricane Maria is already out there. I also read an article I believe in Nature that said as a result of Global warming we can expect more Hurricanes each year.

-LanceMan

My mother told me that for 10-15 years there can be horrible devestating weather events, and then for 10-15 years it can calm down with barely any strong storms. I don't know, the global warming thing is becoming a huge deal - a huge deal that continues to be ignored by people who can actually make a difference. I include normal US citizens in that statement.

Um, in my room, one seam is a little off and I stare at it constantly. It's, like, destroying me.

Kristin wrote:My mother told me that for 10-15 years there can be horrible devestating weather events, and then for 10-15 years it can calm down with barely any strong storms. I don't know, the global warming thing is becoming a huge deal - a huge deal that continues to be ignored by people who can actually make a difference. I include normal US citizens in that statement.

Thank you. In not making our voices heard, in not taking to the streets en masse, in not taking responsibilty for the world we are helping to create through our inactivity, we are all equally to blame for the Kyoto accord going unsigned. Why are we not pushing for mass transit systems, such as monorail, with neighbourhood stations linking up our great cities and extending into the countryside? No, we're all too attached to our automobiles, to the extension and worship of our egos. Give people their reality television and they happily lose focus of the world they live in. This is nothing new for America. Thing is, when we have ozone alert days every week, when the weather is even worse, when more species have fallen by the wayside during our stupor, we'll have no one to complain to save ourselves. Why do American's fear facing their responsibilities?

"Sometimes things happen between people that you don't really expect. And sometimes the things that are important are the ones that seem the weirdest or the most wrong, and those are the ones that change your life."

"MR. RUSSERT: More on Hurricane Katrina, the response from the governor of Mississippi and the president of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, after this station break.

(Announcements)

MR. RUSSERT: And we are back.

Jefferson Parish President Broussard, let me start with you. You just heard the director of Homeland Security's explanation of what has happened this last week. What is your reaction?

MR. AARON BROUSSARD: We have been abandoned by our own country. Hurricane Katrina will go down in history as one of the worst storms ever to hit an American coast, but the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina will go down as one of the worst abandonments of Americans on American soil ever in U.S. history. I am personally asking our bipartisan congressional delegation here in Louisiana to immediately begin congressional hearings to find out just what happened here. Why did it happen? Who needs to be fired? And believe me, they need to be fired right away, because we still have weeks to go in this tragedy. We have months to go. We have years to go. And whoever is at the top of this totem pole, that totem pole needs to be chain-sawed off and we've got to start with some new leadership.

It's not just Katrina that caused all these deaths in New Orleans here. Bureaucracy has committed murder here in the greater New Orleans area, and bureaucracy has to stand trial before Congress now. It's so obvious. FEMA needs more congressional funding. It needs more presidential support. It needs to be a Cabinet-level director. It needs to be an independent agency that will be able to fulfill its mission to work in partnership with state and local governments around America. FEMA needs to be empowered to do the things it was created to do. It needs to come somewhere, like New Orleans, with all of its force immediately, without red tape, without bureaucracy, act immediately with common sense and leadership, and save lives. Forget about the property. We can rebuild the property. It's got to be able to come in and save lives.

We need strong leadership at the top of America right now in order to accomplish this and to-- reconstructing FEMA.

MR. RUSSERT: Mr. Broussard, let me ask--I want to ask--should...

MR. BROUSSARD: You know, just some quick examples...

MR. RUSSERT: Hold on. Hold on, sir. Shouldn't the mayor of New Orleans and the governor of New Orleans bear some responsibility? Couldn't they have been much more forceful, much more effective and much more organized in evacuating the area?

MR. BROUSSARD: Sir, they were told like me, every single day, "The cavalry's coming," on a federal level, "The cavalry's coming, the cavalry's coming, the cavalry's coming." I have just begun to hear the hoofs of the cavalry. The cavalry's still not here yet, but I've begun to hear the hoofs, and we're almost a week out.

Let me give you just three quick examples. We had Wal-Mart deliver three trucks of water, trailer trucks of water. FEMA turned them back. They said we didn't need them. This was a week ago. FEMA--we had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a Coast Guard vessel docked in my parish. The Coast Guard said, "Come get the fuel right away." When we got there with our trucks, they got a word. "FEMA says don't give you the fuel." Yesterday--yesterday--FEMA comes in and cuts all of our emergency communication lines. They cut them without notice. Our sheriff, Harry Lee, goes back in, he reconnects the line. He posts armed guards on our line and says, "No one is getting near these lines." Sheriff Harry Lee said that if America--American government would have responded like Wal-Mart has responded, we wouldn't be in this crisis.

But I want to thank Governor Blanco for all she's done and all her leadership. She sent in the National Guard. I just repaired a breach on my side of the 17th Street canal that the secretary didn't foresee, a 300-foot breach. I just completed it yesterday with convoys of National Guard and local parish workers and levee board people. It took us two and a half days working 24/7. I just closed it.

MR. RUSSERT: All right.

MR. BROUSSARD: I'm telling you most importantly I want to thank my public employees...

MR. RUSSERT: All right.

MR. BROUSSARD: ...that have worked 24/7. They're burned out, the doctors, the nurses. And I want to give you one last story and I'll shut up and let you tell me whatever you want to tell me. The guy who runs this building I'm in, emergency management, he's responsible for everything. His mother was trapped in St. Bernard nursing home and every day she called him and said, "Are you coming, son? Is somebody coming?" And he said, "Yeah, Mama, somebody's coming to get you. Somebody's coming to get you on Tuesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Wednesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Thursday. Somebody's coming to get you on Friday." And she drowned Friday night. She drowned Friday night.

MR. RUSSERT: Mr. President...

MR. BROUSSARD: Nobody's coming to get us. Nobody's coming to get us. The secretary has promised. Everybody's promised. They've had press conferences. I'm sick of the press conferences. For God sakes, shut up and send us somebody.

MR. RUSSERT: Just take a pause, Mr. President. While you gather yourself in your very emotional times, I understand, let me go to Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi.
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I don't know when Tim Russert sold his soul to the Republican Right but it hasn't been pretty since.

I don't usually have too much nice to say about Wal Mart. But good for them trying to help despite FEMA's utter disregard for reality.

I read somewhere that the city of New Orleans requested funding from the federal government two months ago in order to strengthen the levees. But GWB denied them the funding. Now, I am not a Bush supporter, but at the same time, he can't be blamed. Who knew this was coming? Of course, it is hurricane season right now and the hurricanes have been getting worse and stronger the last few years.

Um, in my room, one seam is a little off and I stare at it constantly. It's, like, destroying me.

Kristin wrote:I read somewhere that the city of New Orleans requested funding from the federal government two months ago in order to strengthen the levees. But GWB denied them the funding.

Interesting. I read that the cuts to that specific funding were made 3 years ago, while a report sat on his desk stating that the third biggest threat to the USA came in the form of a large hurricane striking New Orleans. Instead funds were diverted to fight terrorism and a war in Afghanistan (remember that one?) and in Iraq. I read that he authorised building on flood plains, and made or authorised a host of stupid decisions which increased the risk of loss of life significantly.

I'm sorry to say this in such strong terms, but I hate him. That's what it's come to for me now. I cannot bear to look at his smirking little cowboy face, or listen to another 'caring word of concern' come out of his stupid little mouth. I think it is his fault (though not only his fault) that the casualty rate will be so high. I think he could have done far more to prevent and mitigate the disaster. Today I read that the death toll could be as high as 10,000. Show some accountability, 'President'. What was done came too little and too late, and now people are dead. Your own people, who put their trust in you (or not), who pay the taxes you demand even though it cripples them at the expense of the oil oligarchs you love so much, the people who need you to react and move mountains they cannot move themselves. It makes me shake with rage.

And by the way, *surprise*!! Halliburton is getting the contract to rebuild the energy and oil pipelines in New Orleans. Vomit.

Kristin wrote:I read somewhere that the city of New Orleans requested funding from the federal government two months ago in order to strengthen the levees. But GWB denied them the funding.

Interesting. I read that the cuts to that specific funding were made 3 years ago, while a report sat on his desk stating that the third biggest threat to the USA came in the form of a large hurricane striking New Orleans. Instead funds were diverted to fight terrorism and a war in Afghanistan (remember that one?) and in Iraq. I read that he authorised building on flood plains, and made or authorised a host of stupid decisions which increased the risk of loss of life significantly.

You're probably right, starbug - being a college student I'm reading so much stuff that it all sort of bleeds together in my mind sometimes, and I can't remember anything I read EXACTLY. Thank you, also, for what you said about Bush. I really hate him too, and I never thought I could hate a person I never met and don't know on a personal level.

Um, in my room, one seam is a little off and I stare at it constantly. It's, like, destroying me.

Kristin wrote:I read somewhere that the city of New Orleans requested funding from the federal government two months ago in order to strengthen the levees. But GWB denied them the funding.

Interesting. I read that the cuts to that specific funding were made 3 years ago, while a report sat on his desk stating that the third biggest threat to the USA came in the form of a large hurricane striking New Orleans. Instead funds were diverted to fight terrorism and a war in Afghanistan (remember that one?) and in Iraq. I read that he authorised building on flood plains, and made or authorised a host of stupid decisions which increased the risk of loss of life significantly.

I'm sorry to say this in such strong terms, but I hate him. That's what it's come to for me now. I cannot bear to look at his smirking little cowboy face, or listen to another 'caring word of concern' come out of his stupid little mouth. I think it is his fault (though not only his fault) that the casualty rate will be so high. I think he could have done far more to prevent and mitigate the disaster. Today I read that the death toll could be as high as 10,000. Show some accountability, 'President'. What was done came too little and too late, and now people are dead. Your own people, who put their trust in you (or not), who pay the taxes you demand even though it cripples them at the expense of the oil oligarchs you love so much, the people who need you to react and move mountains they cannot move themselves. It makes me shake with rage.

And by the way, *surprise*!! Halliburton is getting the contract to rebuild the energy and oil pipelines in New Orleans. Vomit.

Rage on Starbug, rage on.

I really, really try to be an optimist. I try and see the best in people, in humanity but to quote that line from Billy Jack, sometimes what goes on just makes me want go beserk.

Nearly 2,000 American soliders are dead in Iraq. More than 13,000 are wounded some for life. No WMDs, period. Iraq tetters on the edge of civil war with Al Queda and other terroist groups flock to Iraq where before they did exist. Nearly 200 billion, BILLION spent. An undercover CIA operatives cover blown for political revenge.

Is someone fired for this mess? Is someone facing criminal charges? Is someone going to do serious time in prison?

No. In fact the people who screwed up get promotions and medals (George "Slam Dunk" Tenet).

(Sigh)

There is no accountability from the current regime, nor at this point can it truly be expected. Instead the right in this country does what it always does when faced with a monumental disaster, blame everybody else. Blame the cops and the EMS people who have had a decent nights sleep in more than a week. Blame looters. Blame black people. Blame the poor. Blame, blame, blame.

George Bush could recovery his approval ratings and some modicum of crediblity if he simply said, "I' m sorry". Expectations are soooo low in the US that's all it will take.

Sadly I think no one in the Federal Goverment will be held accountable. Its just not gonna happen. Rightly or wrongly the voters in the US, notwithdstanding allegations of fraud, gave this regime a blank check last November.

Screw the poor, screw gay people, screw illegials, even screw the soliders. As long as Bush and co make money hand over fist nothing else matters. This is sadly what this comes down: greed, evil and incompentance. The first two are bad enough without the third.